Stream

Last week I pleased to find out that +Jaguar USA licensed one of my Raleigh sunrise pictures and it is on their website. Stopped by the local dealership to see if it was also in their printed material (they licensed a print quality version), but no such luck.

Here's my first photo of 2015. I was back at the beach for New Years. A bright moon was out and the Milky Way wasn't visible, but I did find a meticulously crafted maze someone had left in the sand. For scale, I'd say it was 70 or 80 feet across. I knew with a long enough exposure in the moonlight that the maze would show up but not stand out. I decided to set up the camera with the shutter open while I walked the maze with my flashlight pointed at the ground. I hoped that this would produce a sci-fi effect and also help the maze pattern stand out.

It took me several minutes to walk the entire maze. On my first few attempts I would get off course in the dark. When I did finally succeed on walking the entire maze without a mistake I found that one section was a closed loop so I didn't walk there and it didn't get illuminated. My solution was to take another exposure walking just the closed loop so I could later blend it in for an uninterrupted illuminated path. If you look closely you will see small gaps in the light path. This is where my legs blocked the light momentarily.

I also took a separate 20 second exposure to use for the sky. The longer exposures featured short star trails that didn't really look right.

This entire process took about an hour and I was racing against the incoming tide. Shortly after I completed my exposures the waves began erasing the maze and by morning it was completely gone. It was a bit of luck to find the maze so thanks to whoever made it. Certainly a memorable way to bring in the new year.

My camera settings for the long exposure were f/6.3 at ISO 200 and the shutter was open for about six minutes while I walked the maze﻿

This was an elusive shot pre-planned shot. It was pre-visualized and then chased on at least six morning. My luck arrived in the form a beautiful sunrise and a mimicking cloud formation. Personally the chase made the reward that much sweeter. Do you think it deserves a Top 10 spot?

This shot was made over Memorial Day weekend and wasn't a planned shot. Rather a "show up and figure it out" scenario.

The lighting on this one is a complete mix bag. The foreground support was lightpainted with a white LED flashlight. The second layer of sand was cast in a strong yellow light from a bright incandescent bulb. The first light of the day is coming up above the horizon and provides a nice red/yellow glow. The sky is still bathed in rich royal blue because the sun was still ~1 hour away from truly rising.

Shot at a higher ISO (1600) than necessary so the crescent moon wouldn't shift to much. An exposure of 4 seconds was used to help it keep its shape. The camera was set low to the ground. The tripod had to be shifted between each frame to ensure the celestial subjects remained properly framed.

Communities

The wonderful light creeping through the clouds to light up the small foreground tree helped anchor this expansive scene. Upon taking the image I knew it would be a while before I could process it. The time to do so came recently.

One of my goals this year was to spend time learning +Adobe Photoshop. There are just some images that Lightroom can't handle. Such as this image that exceeded the dynamic range of the camera sensor and needed to be blended via HDR Pro. This is the result of five images, all 1EV apart.

How did the processing go? See any faults or areas that require improvement?

I love the wonderful reflections!! Beautiful! Thanks for sharing with the #LandscapePhotography theme!! It's my pleasure to share your amazing photo to the +Landscape Photography page! Check out all the great photos there including yours!! ﻿

The shape of the dogwood tree completely grabbed my attention and the roots amazed me. This tree was a trooper. It had been banged up in the past and was still holding on.

At the time, it was raining which provided soft overcast light and a nice slick appearance to the rocks. A polarizing filter cut down on the reflections and a long exposure allowed the water to smooth out. The form of the tree seems to embrace the flowing water. Almost capturing the force of the water. Very similar to how this tree has had to embrace and overcome the force of water throughout its life.

This image was taken close to home while out scouting a location for another image. The soft yellow light on the tree captured my attention and the resulting images become one of my favorites. The bank had given way and the tree fallen over with just a portion dipping underwater. The lack of a breeze kept the lake water clam during the capture. Finding situations like this close to home is what keeps me exploring the area around me.

I've since visited the tree and it is completely dead. So there are now no chance of making a similar image with fall colors.

This image was a pleasant surprise at the end of a short 2-mile pre-dinner hike. The photo expectations were low due to the time of day and harsh light. Amazingly the falls were completely in shade due to the high wall and direction of light. This allowed a portfolio image to be created when a snapshot (at best) was expected.

Post processing on this image was extremely limited. Its a single exposure processed in LR5. The largest adjustments wer lens profile correction and tugging on the shadows.

Fresh work from the fall trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway area of North Carolina. This shot features the Linn Cove Viaduct and is the fourth of my top 10 images from 2014 along with a blog post covering a recap of my 2014 goals and a new goal for 2015.

I drove through here in August in very high humidity one year on a non photography related trip. Would really like to see it during this kind of fall colour! Thank you for sharing this with #mountainmonday!﻿

Brian passionately pursues the best landscape, nature, and travel
locations at peak lighting conditions. He seeks out elusive organic
moments using a heavy dose of research and a curious eye. His
determination and creativity bring a new perspective to all of his
subject matter. He travels to beautiful destinations but is still
inspired by locations close to home.

I’m based in Raleigh, NC and love traveling, planning trips, and
visiting new places. I really enjoying the American West even though I’m
based in NC. About once a year an extended trip goes from simply being
plans to being a non-stop adventure.

When I’m not planning or shooting give me the outdoors, F1, live music, or a good book and I’ll be happy.